diff --git a/src/makeint.h b/src/makeint.h
index e345011b..c726abe0 100644
--- a/src/makeint.h
+++ b/src/makeint.h
@@ -495,6 +495,8 @@ extern struct rlimit stack_limit;
 
 /* Number of characters in a string constant.  Does NOT include the \0 byte.  */
 #define CSTRLEN(_s)           (sizeof (_s)-1)
+
+/* Only usable when NOT calling a macro: only use it for local functions.  */
 #define STRING_SIZE_TUPLE(_s) (_s), CSTRLEN(_s)
 
 /* The number of bytes needed to represent the largest signed and unsigned
diff --git a/src/rule.c b/src/rule.c
index a1f9ef32..0fc64bc8 100644
--- a/src/rule.c
+++ b/src/rule.c
@@ -94,7 +94,7 @@ get_rule_defn (struct rule *r)
         if (dep->ignore_mtime == 0)
           {
             if (dep->wait_here)
-              p = mempcpy (p, STRING_SIZE_TUPLE (" .WAIT"));
+              p = mempcpy (p, " .WAIT", CSTRLEN (" .WAIT"));
             p = mempcpy (mempcpy (p, " ", 1), dep_name (dep),
                          strlen (dep_name (dep)));
           }
@@ -107,7 +107,7 @@ get_rule_defn (struct rule *r)
           {
             p = mempcpy (p, sep, strlen (sep));
             if (ood->wait_here)
-              p = mempcpy (p, STRING_SIZE_TUPLE (".WAIT "));
+              p = mempcpy (p, ".WAIT ", CSTRLEN (".WAIT "));
             p = mempcpy (p, dep_name (ood), strlen (dep_name (ood)));
           }
       *p = '\0';